Hartlepool umpire Michael Gough gave captain Mathews the chance to rescind the appeal, but he declined.

It was a bit reminiscent of Collingwood’s time as England’s one-day captain. He refused to bring back Grant Elliott when the New Zealander was run out after colliding with Ryan Sidebottom.

“It’s not even a few days, it affects you for weeks and months,” said Collingwood of the 2008 flashpoint, which he apologised for in the post-match Press conference. “Still, probably now you can tell it’s one of those things you wish you hadn’t done. But when you’re in the heat of the moment...

“I said to the boys earlier on I still, to this day, say Siddy (Sidebottom) was going for the ball and it was probably the right decision, but I wouldn’t make that decision again.

“It was 2-2 in the series and getting down to the wire as well, and you’ve got your default position of playing with your brother in the back street and it’s winning at all costs.”

Tuesday’s incident also came in the deciding match of a one-day series England lost.

So far, so similar, but Collingwood argues there were important differences with Senanayake.

“I was a bit surprised when I watched it on Tuesday,” he said. “I thought, ‘It’s not great for the game’. A lot of people will say I’m a hypocrite after the Grant Elliott situation, but Tuesday’s incident was premeditated. It didn’t look right.

“There is a massive difference that it was a situation that arose and I had to make a decision within 30 seconds of that happening. Tuesday’s was a decision that, when he was running up to bowl, he wasn’t even looking to bowl, you can tell that.

“It was a manufactured situation and that’s what I didn’t like about it.

“You realise the kind of impact it has on the game. When you’re in that situation you think you’re making the right decision.

“It’s such a close game, the heat of the moment, all that stuff. You’re trying to systematically go through the events and say he wasn’t doing anything wrong there, he was going for the ball 100%. That’s what I asked Ryan Sidebottom, all that kind of stuff. Everything was there.

“But you’ve got to have a look at the emotional side of the game and the impact it will have on grass roots, all that kind of stuff, as well. It doesn’t come into your mind in the heat of the moment. You want to go on and win the game.

“I didn’t like seeing that on Tuesday as a spectator. I think it could have been handled a bit better.”

Collingwood’s solution is to take the process out of the players’ hands.

“He (Buttler) didn’t look as though he was trying to steal a load of yards. I don’t know the rules 100%, but my take on it is when the (bowler’s) back foot lands, you’re allowed to come out of the crease. For a spinner, it takes a lot longer once you’ve landed to let go of the ball and you gradually come out. Whether we need to change the rules on it or something I don’t know, but it wasn’t nice to see.

“It’s not a dismissal you see every day of the week, but when it happens everyone gets up in arms about it.

“I always say these decisions if possible should be taken out of the players’ hands. They need to come up with a system where the umpires make the call, not the players out in the middle. Against Lancashire (in the Twenty20 Cup) last week one of their batsmen came in and he was over the 60-second limit.

“It took him 75 seconds. It was up to Rocky (Mark Stoneman, Durham’s captain on the night) to say whether he’s out or not. I don’t think that’s a nice position to be in.

“If you’re the first person in the county game to give him out, you shouldn’t be put in that position as captain.”